Coordinator

Do you have a passion for the community response to the climate crisis? Do you enjoy getting people involved and creating systems to enable a well-established and successful local charity to amplify its impact? 

We seek a motivated and organised freelancer, working on a part-time and flexible basis. The role will involve setting up the systems to enable the organisation to grow, through getting more people involved as volunteers and project leaders and developing our resources. 

Transition Bath has a long legacy of successful projects and there has never been a more important time to scale these up, with the climate and ecological crisis and cost of living crisis stretching our resilience but also record levels of concern amongst people in the UK for the environment and a desire to solve the problem. Transition is about creating the positive future we wish to see, through practical projects and collaboration.

“With the scale of the challenge, if we wait for governments, it will be too late. If we act as individuals, it will be too little. But if we act as communities, it might just be enough” Rob Hopkins, Co-Founder, Transition movement

What is Transition Bath?

Transition Bath was formed in 2009 as part of the creative upsurge that formed the global Transition Movement. We build the positive future we wish to see, with practical projects right now. Transition Bath has incubated a broad range of projects including Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE); a highly successful community energy social enterprise and Energy Sparks an online, school-specific energy analysis tool and energy education programme, which now supports over 500 schools and 200,000 pupils nationally. 

Current Transition Bath projects include: 

• Home energy efficiency: Projects have included partnering with B&NES Council and Bath Preservation Trust to run Bath Green Homes open homes, training residents in thermal imaging to detect heat loss and lending them our thermal imaging camera (this service is in high demand this year) and running educational talks and events.

• Eco Together: Forming small groups of friends, neighbours or colleagues to work through a structured empowerment programme and start to use their unique eco powers. Several Eco Together groups are currently running. 

• Public Consultations and Planning Applications – we comment on large planning applications in Bath and support B&NES council in setting higher than national local standards for new building homes and commercial buildings to reduce their carbon emissions. 

• Transport: Pressing for more sustainable transport, working with other groups and running projects including Ride To Work by Bike which for the last 3 years has been supporting those commuting by car in Bath to commuting by electric bike, the project continues to receive very good feedback.

• Food: We have supported the formation of many ‘guerrilla gardens’ on unused plots of land for production of food, and run projects such as Crop Drop: delivery spare/excess locally domestically and commercially produced food to those who need it. We also run a Community Nuttery on National Trust land where we can hold events and activities to strengthen our bond with nature and food production.

• Ecooperation: Helping coordinate the environmental movement in Bath to better work together and support each other, through events and communication platforms. 

• Transition Culture: Working with Bath’s flourishing cultural scene and organising transformational events, materials and experiences for example with Bath Abbey, BRLSI and the Little Theatre. Creating the cultural conditions for the transition to a fossil free, abundant and resilient future.

• Incubation and support: As an established charity, we support the projects of other environmental groups and where beneficial, spin projects out into separate organisations, with the aim of strengthening the environmental movement as a whole.  

In short – we do a lot. We are a small group of volunteers who are skilled and productive with excellent connections with organisations and institutions in Bath. However, we urgently need more people to get involved, as participants and importantly as leaders, and consider how the organisation will sustain itself into the future. 

Job Description

The Coordinator will undertake a selection of the following activities, subject to a co-development process with the successful candidate based on their strengths and expertise: 

1. Group Building: Agree with Transition Bath projects which roles are needed and then help to devise and implement a plan for finding people to help fill them, drawing on the wealth of experience and expertise in Bath.  

2. Event organising: Support the volunteer team to plan and run group-building events. 

3. Materials development: Written materials to support volunteer orientation and experience. 

4. Fundraising: Identify funding opportunities and support Transition Bath volunteers to apply for them.

5. Systems and monitoring progress: Helping the group get organised, building on existing systems, and to track impact and results.

Person Specification 

To fulfil the role above, we are looking for a candidate with these skills and abilities, who live in the Bath area:

1. Organisational skills: Can plan work, set targets, prioritise tasks and meet deadlines. Has experience of project management and creating the systems and materials needed for project success. 

2. Communication and Interpersonal skills: Happy to reach out and talk to new people and inspire them to get involved and be proactive and responsive in communications with team members. Group building, recruitment or fundraising experience desirable 

3. Independence: Can work on a task with little supervision once the task is understood, seek clarity if the task is unclear and take the initiative to problem-solve. 

4. Event organising: Making large or small events and/or activities happen. 

5. Climate awareness: The successful candidate will demonstrate a good knowledge of climate change, the role of community in the solutions and a strong desire to implement the solutions.

Working arrangements

The Coordinator will work on a freelance basis, keeping a record of hours worked to submit monthly for payment.  They will need to be registered with HMRC and provide evidence of professional indemnity insurance.

The post will be supervised by Sara Grimes, chair of Transition Bath and supported by the trustees and project leads.  

The work location will be a mix of remote working and co-working in central Bath with the supervisor, to be agreed upon successful application. 

Hours and Pay

The pay is £20 per hour inclusive for a total of 240 hours. This equates to 32 7.5-hour days at £150 a day. The post is funded through a Transition Together grant and Transition Bath’s reserves.

The role will start in Spring 2023 and run for approximately 8 months with a break during August. Work will be an average of one day a week, depending on the needs of the post holder and Transition Bath and to be agreed with the successful candidate. This may include some weekend and evening work. 

Application process

Please submit the following by midnight on the 14^th of May to the email info@transitionbath.org. Interviews will be on Friday 19th May. 

• A CV
• A cover letter that is no longer than 1000 words giving examples of how you meet the six criteria above, we suggest using the STAR technique. Applications will be scored on the evidence provided that these criteria have been met.
• For GDPR, please do not include age or physical address on your application, though please indicate if you live in Bath. We will contact applicants by phone or email 

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

Transition Bath takes inclusion and diversity seriously. An inclusive environmental movement is critical to achieving our mission of transitioning to a climate-safe, just and resilient future. We recognise the positive value of diversity, promote equality and challenge unfair discrimination. We aim to recruit the person who is most suited to the job and welcome applications from black and minority ethnic candidates; disabled people; young people; lesbian; gay; bisexual; and transgender candidates.

We will not discriminate or tolerate discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, educational background, gender, employment status, ethnic origin, marital / partnership or family status, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, social class, transgender, working pattern, housing tenure or any other irrelevant factor in any aspect of employment.